Island Princess New Cabins

[SoCalTraveler]

There is quite a bit of discussion here about the retrofit of the Island Princess, which added about 131 cabins but eliminated the ability to walk around the Promenade Deck and eliminated public space. There is some discussion of vibration in the aft cabins. Well, we had one of those aft cabins, and here is my review (which was posted to cabin reviews, as well). In short, cabin C731, an aft mini-suite, is a disaster.

 

On the plus side, it is all the way aft, so the balcony faces both Starboard and aft, which is great for canal viewing or simply watching the wake. This is a mini-suite, with two flat screens (one with a visible picture defect). For entertainment, we would put Fox on one and MSNBC on the other so they could amuse themselves.

 

There is very adequate storage (we could not fill it all) and we brought formal wear. (If you only have one flight, and American allows us two free bags each, then it is easy to bring stuff.) The bed is very comfortable.

There are no outlets easily accessible next to the bed. There are outlets at the desk (two American, one European), and we bring a power strip (not a surge protector, see other threads on this topic). We both have Apple iWatches which do not charge properly in the vibrating environment. (More below.) While we did not use it, the sofa opens into a twin size bed.

 

However:

 

1. Rattles: The cabin suffers from vibration, which we do not mind, and numerous rattles which we do mind. Construction defects in the walls left stuff banging. Very annoying at night. According to the head of customer service, C731 is known to Princess as a “noisy cabin.” Prior guests or staff have improvised all sorts of fixes to limit the noise, including stuffing a can opener in the light fixture to keep a ceiling panel from rattling. (Yes, not only do I have pictures, but staff took pictures to send to HQ, although HQ disputes that it has the pictures.) This problem cannot be resolved.

 

2. Broken Refrigerator: The refrigerator failed. Hey, it did not work when we first walked in the door. It would regularly turn itself off as it overheated. This is another design defect (per the staff), since the cabinet the refrigerator is in does not allow for sufficient heat circulation, so it regularly shuts off. The staff insists it is not really a refrigerator, but is really a cooler, since it uses the Peltier effect to achieve cooling rather than using a refrigerant and a condenser. Customer relations staff suggested leaving the cabinet door open to improve air circulation, but that did not work. Nevertheless, the ship refrigeration guy, who explained all this to me, tested the temperature with two open ice buckets inside, and it registered 59 degrees F. So I observed it wasn’t much of a cooler, either. (A Peltier effect cooler should lower the interior temperature under optimum conditions by about 25 degrees F, so if you keep your room at 75 degrees F, it should be at 50 degrees F.) Since I carry medicine with me that needs refrigeration, our steward provided ice buckets with regularity. The refrigerator was finally replaced with a brand-new refrigerator, plastic wrapping still on, after six days after near daily complaints. Do not despair, though. If you are English and prefer your beer at room temperature, this little cooler will deliver.

 

3. No hot water: Despite the warm Caribbean sun and warm refrigerator, hot water in the bathroom was merely a rumor. There was no hot water when we first arrived, which meant the water was colder than the refrigerator. We had numerous days without hot water, and occasionally took showers in the men's and ladies locker rooms in the spa, three decks up. These are the only public showers on the ship. The ship plumbers visited regularly. Sometimes we had hot water after ten or 12 minutes of running the water full blast. Sometimes never. On the last day of the cruise, having made a scene because the staff blew a specific appointment, two plumbers labored 30 minutes to get the water to 110 degrees F. (At home, my hot water heaters—I have two—are set to 140 degrees F.) On occasion, we heard that hot water had failed in cabins near us as well. This appears to be a design defect from the retrofit. The time of day was irrelevant to the existence of hot water. We started keeping notes of when we called and who we spoke to, and had at least thirty interactions with the staff (not including our steward) about the hot water situation.

 

4. Flood: A pipe broke on the other side of the ship, leading to a puddle of water in our cabin. It took four days to get someone to attend to it. Puddle as in by the 4th day we could splash. And no, the leaking water was not hot, so it was not like fixing the leak solved the hot water problem. This took four days and multiple requests to fix.

 

5. “Rain” on the Balcony: For two days we have water dripping down on our balcony. At first, we thought it was a passing rain shower, but we soon figured out it was coming from the ship. This was fixed (without explanation) after two days, and involved “balcony maintenance” per the notice we received for several dozen cabins on our deck.

 

To the credit of the senior customer relations staff, they were always polite and professional. They provided a significant on-board credit on two occasions, and promised that there would be further follow-up from the Manager of Customer Service in Santa Clarita (and not a staff person), chiefly because of the hot water issue. Front desk staff were no different than that on any other ship. On several occasions, they thought we should wait in our cabin for maintenance people to fix cabin problems.

 

 

To the dis-credit of Princess, we were not contacted by Princess upon our return, as promised by the customer relations manager on the ship. Two e-mails to customer service elicited immediate form responses promising contact within 2-3 business days. No one contacted us. I generally am not fond of folks who make promises they don’t keep.

 

A letter to Jan Swartz finally delivered a belated contact from a customer relations staffer who pretty much had a wholly different story from the Manager on the ship. She did, however, provide an additional FCC, which was promptly applied to our next cruise. From our perspective, we are still owed a call from the actual head of customer service because that was promised on several occasions.

Edited July 7, 2017 by SoCalTraveler
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[Colo Cruiser]

Sorry you had to deal with all this.........

I always say that they know at some point the passenger will be off the ship and gone.

Out of sight out of mind. Ship staff's way of dealing with any issues.

There have been numerous posts on CC about ships staff promising that corporate will follow up. Never to be heard from again. Pretty sad way to do business. :(

[easyboy]

Not a nice experience!

Thanks for the feedback.

 

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